Alpha's Story
by percabethlives4ever
Summary: This fanfic is a companion to my other fanfiction "That's Not My Life Anymore." You can read either and have a general idea of what happens, but I suggest reading the other one first, since this book (and even the summary) will spoil any plot twists or surprises in "That's Not My Life Anymore." (SUMMARY INSIDE)
1. Full Summary

This fanfic is a companion to my other fanfiction "That's Not My Life Anymore." You can read either and have a general idea of what happens, but I suggest reading the other one first, since this book (and even the summary) will spoil any plot twists or surprises in "That's Not My Life Anymore."

Bianca di Angelo sacrificed herself at a young age. She had a full life ahead of her that she never got to live. What if she got another chance to live? What if she got another chance to experience a true life?

When a mysterious man visits her in the Underworld, Bianca is given these opportunities. It seems no different than being re-born except for one thing: she can stay in the same body.

Watch as she changes from Bianca di Angelo, the girl who sacrificed herself in 'The Titan's Curse' to Alpha, the second-in-command of an army.


	2. Prologue

I could feel stabbing pain all over my body. I wanted to scream out, to get it to stop, but I couldn't. I heard the sound of crushing metal, and I felt like a few sparks flew, but other than that, I had no idea what was going on.

"Someone help me!" I tried to shout, but nothing came out of my mouth. It was like I was frozen. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, and I couldn't feel anything other than pain. I tried to scream, I tried to kick, I tried to get away from whatever was surrounding me, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything.

"Please," I rasped out. I used all my breath to say it, but even though I strained my ears, I could barely hear it. I thought I felt a tear stream down my cheek. "Please."

Suddenly, instead of seeing black, I saw white. Blinding white that seemed to shine right through me. I saw a dark black hand, almost dementor-like, reach through the mist. As I stared at it, I realized what it meant.

"No," I sobbed, trying to shake my head. "No, I'm not ready!" The hand kept reaching toward, as if trying to reach my very soul. Which, to be fair, I guess it was.

Sacrifice is a weird thing. Because although you know it's the right thing to do when you're heading into the danger, it seems all wrong once Fate has cut your string. As the hand of death reaches toward you, you realize that you shouldn't have sacrificed yourself at all. You have a selfish moment where you realize you want to live.

Dying means leaving those you love behind. It means never getting the chance to say goodbye, to tell them how you really feel. In that moment, you would give anything to go back in time and undo what you did. Even if you'd be willing to sacrifice yourself again, you'd want to go back and fix something. You'd want to live that day over again, knowing that you're going to die, just so you can live it the right way.

No one knows what day Fate might decide to cut their string.

No one knows when the Hand Of Death will reach out to take their very soul.

No one is _ever_ prepared to die.


	3. Chapter 1

Life and death aren't all that different. The biggest difference is that when you're alive, you actually have the power to do something. In the Underworld, you can do whatever you want- but it won't affect anyone else. You can't change the world or make life better for other people. You can't interfere.

It's funny- you don't realize how much power you really have, until it's taken away from you.

Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I stared into the old mirror.

"Help him, Percy," I whispered into the image. I held my hand up and touched the glass. It felt soft and smooth to the touch, almost like calm water. It felt nothing like the glass of most mirrors. I watched as my brother threw his Mytho Magic cards into the fire, and talked to the manipulating ghost. "Please. He needs you. Don't let him throw his life away."

I don't know why I felt like Percy was the only one who could help him. It just felt right. It wasn't because he was a Child of the Big Three. It wasn't because he was a hero. It was because he was just him. He cared about other people. He was capable of helping. He was the one my brother would listen to. And at that moment, that was all that mattered.

I turned away from the mirror that was showing me what my brother was up to, and looked around the dark room I had stumbled upon in Hades' Palace. I couldn't help but feel like my father had made it for me.

On one wall, the south wall I believe, there was the door that was the entrance to the room. Against that same wall was a dark wardrobe.

On the wall across from the door, the north wall, on a slightly elevated platform was a bed. Over the bed was a small window that overlooked Elysium, where I was sorted. On the east wall, there was a door that led to the ensuite bathroom.

On the west wall sat the mirror. I thought it was an ordinary mirror at first, but when I walked over to look at it, the reflection changed. Instead of seeing myself, I saw my brother. The brother I had left in the world, all alone. I didn't want to leave him, but I couldn't let the others on the quest die because of me. We were warned not to take anything from the junkyard, but I took it anyway. It was my mistake, and it was my job to fix it.

I didn't know how to work the mirror. I couldn't tell if I was controlling who it was showing, or if it was showing me that person because they needed my help. All I knew was that I was transfixed.

I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be there, considering I was in my father's castle, but if I'm honest, I liked it better than Elysium. Although Elysium was amazing, at that point, I just needed some time alone. I needed some time to myself, some time to think.

Some time to grieve.

It doesn't sound right, a dead person grieving. But at the same time, it makes sense. In a way, dying is harder than having someone you know die. When you die, you leave behind everyone you care about. When you die, you lose everyone, not just one person. When you die, you realize you might never see anyone you care about again.

At least when you're alive, you have the hope that you might see them when you die yourself. But when you're dead, you know the truth. You know that your friends and family may not be in the same place as you. When you're dead, you know that if you choose re-birth, even if you do see them again, you won't recognize each other. When you're dead, you realize how utterly alone you are.

I looked around the room again. I don't know why I felt like it was meant to be my room, it just felt right. It felt like home. I walked over to the bed, and kneeled on it. It creaked slightly as I put weight on it, but other than that, it didn't move. I delicately put my hands on the window sill, somehow afraid of disturbing the perfect room, and looked out the window. The only thing I could see out the window that was even remotely interesting was the party that was forever happening in Elysium. Everything else was just barren, normal Underworld land.

I was about to turn away, and continue exploring the Palace when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I snapped my head to the left, where the gates of Elysium laid, and watched a familiar girl walk towards them. I squinted, trying to figure out who it was. Long black hair in a braid, sliver circuit around her head…

Zoë. She was dead.

I wondered briefly how it happened. She had to have died in battle. Did she died during the quest? The quest had been over for a couple weeks now, but she could have been in the Underworld for all that time, just on the other side of the River Styx, where Charon was. Did she die bravely? Did she sacrifice herself? Then a horrible thought hit me: Did she know she was going to die before it happened? Did she know she was going to die when she left on the mission?

"Who are you?" a voice demanded, scaring the hell of of me.

I had been so focused on what was outside and my own thoughts that I hadn't heard the footsteps outside the room, or the creak of the door opening. I didn't realize that someone else was there until it was too late.

I spun around quickly with a gasp, still kneeling on the bed. My leg landed in a really weird position, and I ended up toppling forward, off the bed. I did a bit of a somersault-type thing, and landed face first on the hard floor. I pushed myself up to a standing position with a groan. I wiped my hands on my jeans, trying to get the grime off. Who knew that I could actually touch anything when I was a ghost?

I finally looked up at the person who had caught me. If my heart was still beating, it would have stopped for a couple seconds as I stared at the man. Finally, remembering who I was standing with, I dropped into a small crusty.

"You may rise," he whispered. I stood back up, looking down at the ground, not daring to meet his eyes.

We stood there or a couple moments in silence. It almost seemed like he was in shock to see me again, in the flesh. Well, not exactly in the flesh, considering I was a ghost. Like, does that saying 'in the flesh' make sense with ghosts? I mean, we don't actually have skin… Maybe, see me again in the mist…?

"Look at me," he said softly, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to see my face. I slowly looked up, staring at the man I hadn't truly seen in so many years. It wasn't right that I hadn't seen him in so long. It wasn't right that I barely remembered him. He was supposed to be the person that was always there in my life. Family was supposed to be forever. It was supposed to be the thing you always had.

"Bianca," he whispered eventually.

"Father."

"You're really here," he whispered in amazement. I couldn't tell if he was asking or if he it was a statement.

"I am," I replied, with a small smile. "It's been a while."

"Yes it has," he said softly. He sighed and looked around the room. "How did you find this room?"

I shrugged, "I just found it while walking around. For some reason I just felt a compelling need to look in it. It almost feels like it was made for me."

"It was," Hades told me with a small smile.

"Really?"

"It was meant to look like your old room, from the house you and Nico grew up in," he informed me. A distant look appeared on his face, "Your mother always loved that room- she designed it herself."

"Really?" I asked. I didn't know much about my mother so to hear just that one thing was amazing. I always wished that I could remember her, even just the faintest thing. I wished I could remember what her face looked like when she smiled, or even what colour eyes she had. I always wished I had someone to tell me those facts, tell me what she was really like. That's the thing about losing a parent when you're that young- you're always wondering about them. You're always wondering what they would have been like, if Fate had granted them a few more years of life.

We stood there for a little bit in silence, each buried in our own thoughts. I was only brought back to reality by a knock on the door.

"My Lord?" the ghost-guard-thing (I didn't quite understand what it was) asked.

"Yes?" Hades snapped. I jumped back at the sound of his voice. He had turned from being my father to being the King of the Underworld in the split-second it had taken him to answer.

"You are needed down in the judgement pavilion, Sir," the guard-ghost said, bowing down.

My father sighed. "Very well. I'll be right there."

The guard-ghost-thing bowed again, and scurried off.

"They always need me for something," Hades muttered shaking his head. He turned back to me. "Well then, I guess this is goodbye for now. I hope to see you again at some point."

"Why wouldn't you?" I asked.

"Well I never know when you'll choose re-birth. I'm fairly sure you will at some point. You have been thinking about it already, haven't you?"

I shrugged, "I guess. Not very seriously, but I have thought about it a bit."

He nodded, "I see. Well, I must be off now."

Hades turned, and walked to the door.

"Father?" I asked quickly, as walking out the door. He turned.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Was there- well, I mean, did there happen to be anything that survived from the fire?"

"The fire?" he asked.

"Our old house. It burned down the night mom died, didn't it? Was there anything that didn't get ruined?"

He watched me for a few moments. It almost felt as if he were studying me.

"Yes," he said finally. He nodded toward the nearly empty west wall. "That mirror."

"How did you get it out?" I asked tentatively, hoping that he would answer. Again he paused.

"I got it after the fire. I went back to the house to see if anything was okay- if there was anything of ours that I could keep. The mirror was the only thing that hadn't burned to a crisp."

"How did it survive?"

He smiled a bit.

"Some that I know believe that it's enchanted. That the child in whom's room it hung left some magic in it, without even realizing it."

"And who's room did it hang in?"

"Yours, my dear Bianca. It hung in your room."


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I traced the designs on the frame of the mirror, inspecting it closely. There was something that intrigued me about this mirror. I wasn't sure what it was, but there was something. I figured that it was probably just the fact that I knew it was from my childhood. It was the only thing I had from the home that I grew up in.

_The only thing._

It didn't sound right. You're meant to have everything from your childhood home. You're supposed to have souvenirs. You should have pictures, and memories from the years you spent living there. But I didn't. All I had was a mirror that used to hang in my room- the room I didn't even remember.

I may as well have not lived in that house at all. A mirror was all I had to show that I had ever lived there. A mirror was the only thing to show that I had been a kid once.

All of a sudden, I wanted to ruin it. I wanted to destroy it, smash it against the floor, watch it shatter into a thousand pieces. I knew it would be like destroying my childhood, but I didn't care. What was the point of having a childhood I didn't remember? What was the point of keeping this if I didn't even know what it represented? I wanted to rip the mirror of the wall, to break it into two. I wanted to watch it fall apart, to get rid of the pain that having it made me feel.

But I held myself back.

_It's my only way of seeing Nico_, I reminded myself. It was my only way of seeing my little brother that was all alone in the world. It was my only way to check up on him and make sure he was okay. I wasn't about to ruin it.

It wasn't about the sentimental value. I didn't care about my childhood. My childhood was the time when the worst things happened. It was when my mother died, and my father left us. It was the time when I realized the only person I had was Nico.

I angrily wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face, as I turned away from the mirror. I didn't want to be reminded of that time in my life.

Screw childhood memories. The present, and the future, was all that mattered.

Over the weeks to come, I became obsessed with the mirror. I would return continuously to the room just to look in it. It wasn't healthy- I knew that much. It was pretty damn obvious. But the mirror was my only way to see what was happening in the mortal world. It was the only way I could watch over my brother and make sure he was okay. It was the only way I could interfere.

I guess that was what it really was about. It was about interfering. It was about being able to affect the World.

Nico was part of that. If I could interfere, if I could help him. I could fix his mistakes. I could make sure he didn't throw his life away.

I could live _through_ him.

I could tell I was going crazy. I could tell it wasn't right. But to put it simply, I didn't care. When you're alive, you're constantly worrying about death. But once you're dead, you have nothing to fear. That's extremely dangerous.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how horrible it was that I was interfering. I realized that the Fates can't control what the dead do. The Fates couldn't control me. For all I knew, I was altering Nico's fate. For better or for worse, I could be changing the course of his life. I could be saving him, or killing him.

That's the thought that made me take a step back, and think about I was doing. I could be the reason that Nico suddenly died. I could be the reason that he'd get hit by a car, or shadow-travelled into a Volcano. Because I was _changing Fate itself._

That's when I started to freak out.

I needed to stop. I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't be the reason for my brother's death. He wasn't supposed to die yet. He was supposed to live a long life- longer than he already had. He was supposed to find someone, and settle down and live his life. I couldn't take that from him. I couldn't stop his happiness.

I couldn't be the reason he ended like me. I couldn't.

But what if it was too late?

I turned and fled from the room, from the mirror, not daring to look back.


	5. Chapter 3

I watched from across Elysium as people walked through the stone archway that led to a new life. The stone archway that led to re-birth.

It would get me away. It would give me another chance. So why not? It would be great. I could live a new life, where monsters weren't always chasing me. No satyr would need to save me from my school. I could live an oblivious life.

Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't realized that I was actually walking. I hadn't realized how close I was to my dream until it was right in front of me.

The archway looked much more menacing up close. Staring it in the face made me wonder if this was the right choice. I had been so sure of what I wanted when I walked up, but now that I was there, I was questioning it. Was it a good idea? Was it really what I wanted?

I knew what I needed. I needed to get away. I needed another chance. I needed a new life.

I was standing in front of the archway that could give me that wish. It was just a few steps away. I could get away from being Bianca… away from being a daughter of Hades. I could be a normal girl. A girl who knew nothing about this life.

But was it what I wanted?

That was the question that kept me standing there, that stopped me from walking through. I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't know what to do.

"Bianca di Angelo," I heard someone say from behind me. I slowly turned and looked up at the man who knew my name. Although that was only my first of many times seeing him, if you asked me what he looked like, I wouldn't be able to describe him to you.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"I know more about you than just your name, Bianca."

"Like what?"

The man smiled, scaring the hell out of me. Most people's smiles lit up their face, made them look beautiful. Not his. His smile was wide, white, and sharp enough to be used as a murder weapon.

"Who are you?" I asked, taking a step back.

"My name is Chaos. I assume you've heard of me?"

I nodded slowly, "You're Primordials aren't you?"

His smile only grew when I said that.

"Yes, I am," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Bianca."

"Pleasure?" I snorted, crossing my arms. "Right."

"You don't believe me?"

"It's no one's pleasure to meet me," I said.

"Why not?"

"My father is Hades. Everyone hates him."

"Believe it or not, Bianca, but I have nothing against your father."

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He nodded.

"Hades has never done anything to me. His rivalry is with his siblings, the Olympians, not the Primordials. Otherwise, I doubt he would have ever let me down here."

"Does he know you're talking to me?"

"Yes, he does. I made sure he was okay with what I'm going to offer you."

"Well, what do you want from me then?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Gods always want something. I'm assuming that's what you mean by your 'offer'.

"Why do you believe that most gods do that?"

"I've been to Camp HalfBlood. Gods usually from their demigod children. That's why demigods are always claimed when they're so old. Because their parents didn't care about them until they wanted something."

"I assure you I am not like that. In fact, I don't actually have any mortal children."

"You don't?" I asked surprised. From what I'd heard from the Hunters and campers, pretty much all gods, other than the maidens, had demigod children.

"No, I don't. It's never interested me if I'm honest."

"Why not?"

He shrugged, "What's the point of having children, if you're just going to have to watch them die one day? Besides, I have others that are like my children. That's actually what I wanted to talk about with you."

"Why would you want to talk to _me?"_

"Because you have potential, Bianca. I don't want to see it wasted. If you choose re-birth, you will lose so much. You won't remember any of your old life."

"I don't mind that," I told him. "I didn't have that great of a life. But thanks anyway." I turned to walk away, towards the archway that could give me a new life.

"Are you prepared to leave him?" Chaos asked from behind me, making me freeze. "Are you prepared to forget your brother forever?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," I said coldly, not turning around.

"You won't even have the faintest memory of him. Imagine passing him on the street, and not remembering how much he used to mean to you. Not even remembering his name. Nico di Angelo would just be another stranger in a world full of strangers."

"It wouldn't be able to hurt me if I didn't remember," I said, but I was unsure. Could I leave him like that?

"You're hesitating," Chaos stated. "You don't want to leave him do you?"

"I already have left him," I spat, spinning around to face him. "Don't you see? I've already left him by himself in the world! I'm dead, Chaos!_ I'm dead!_ I can't do anything to help him now!"

"What if I could offer you a new life?" he asked. "A life where you could still remember him, remember all this? One where you could put your skills to good use? Where you could watch over your brother and make sure he's alright?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, warily. It sounded like an okay life, but how could I be sure?

"I told you before that I have no biological children. But there _are_ others that I have brought to my world, that I like to think of like my children."

"Why would you bring them to your world?"

"To be in my armies. I have many training grounds, and many armies. I've been putting together a new army, but I still need a leader for it."

"And you want _me?"_

"Only if you want to," he assured me. "It's completely voluntary."

He wanted me to lead an army. Me. Lead an army. Although it sounded like a good deal, I wasn't sure. I couldn't lead an army. Especially not an army created by Chaos himself.

"I don't… I don't know…" I whispered, having no idea what to say. "I kind of wanted to put all this supernatural stuff in the past."

"At least think about it. It's a good opportunity for you."

It was a good opportunity. I could say yes. It was practically re-birth, but better. I could remember everything. I could help my brother…

"I do want to say yes…" I trailed off. Something was holding me back, but I wasn't sure what. It was something in the pit of my stomach, telling me that it wasn't all I wanted.

"But?" he prompted. I looked up at him. Although at first he had terrified me, =I was starting to see him in a different light. I was starting to think I could trust him. I took a deep breath, and whispered, "I don't think want to be Bianca anymore."

* * *

**I'm really unsure about this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!**


	6. Chapter 4

"I want to dye my hair," I said suddenly, as I passed a mirror in the long hallway. Chaos stopped and stared at me.

"Why?" he asked.

"I want it to look different. _I_ want to look different." Chaos looked at me for a while, as if he was trying to figure out a hard puzzle.

"Come with me," he said eventually. I followed him to a huge, brightly-lit bathroom.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"You want to look different," he said simply.

"How different can I look? I want to dye my hair light brown, but you'll probably need to use magic to change my face very drastically."

"I can't make you a different person," Chaos said, making sure I wasn't getting the wrong impression. "To do that would require you to be re-born, which is exactly what we're trying to avoid."

"Then make me look different," I said, staring at myself in the huge mirror. "Make it so that no one can recognize me- not you, not me, not even Nico."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" he asked. "What if one day you want someone to see you as Bianca again, and they don't recognize you? What if one day you want to change it back?"

"Why are you so worried about how I'll feel in the future?" I asked, breaking my gaze from my reflection to his. He sighed and shook his head.

"I just know what it's like to regret a decision later on in life."

I didn't ask what he regretted. I didn't make him think about it anymore than he wanted to.

Instead I just asked, "Alright, what should I do then?"

And I smiled to myself when he told me to wear a mask.

* * *

"Have you thought about the other half of my offer?" Chaos asked. We were now sitting in some kind of office.

"Other half?" I asked.

"About being the leader of my new army. It's not much of an army yet, I actually only have about 20 people picked out, but one day, I think it might be the best army I've created."

"I don't know," I said honestly.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you unsure about?"

"I just… I don't know how to lead an army. I'm just not cut out for it. It isn't who I am."

"Why do you think that?"

"I barely know anything about this stuff. The only thing I have some skill in is archery, and that's because I was a Hunter of Artemis."

"A Hunter Of Artemis?"

"A group of girls that hunt with Artemis, and have pledged to be maidens forever. They're immortal, but they can be killed in battle- that's why it was possible for me to die. Have you never heard of them? It's not really a new thing."

"I haven't seen Artemis in centuries," Chaos informed me, with a chuckle. "Although that makes sense, since she hates men so much."

"Fair enough," I said, with a smile.

"Now, back to the army situation," he said. My smile dropped immediately.

"I can't lead an army, Chaos. I'm sorry."

"How about I make you a deal?" he asked.

"What kind of deal?"

"You clearly don't want to be a leader of an army."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"So, I'm going to suggest this: you don't need to be the leader, per se. However, I want this to be a strong army, and I don't want your talent wasted."

"I don't have any talent," I protested.

"Yes, you do. You just don't realize it. Now, what I'm proposing is that you don't become the _leader_ of the army, but you do become the second-in-command."

"Second-in-command?" I echoed.

"It's a compromise," Chaos explained. "Do you think you can live with it?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, I think it'll be okay."

"Great. Now-"

"Chaos," I interrupted timidly. "Who's going to be the leader of the army, now that I've declined?"

"I don't know yet," Chaos replied. "I have an idea, but I'm not sure that it will ever get to the point where he wants to leave the life he has now."

"Does he have a good life, then?"

"Yes, he does. But a lot is asked of him. I fear that one day, something might happen to make him want to leave it all behind him.

"Now, getting back to you, we need to figure out your codename. Everyone in my armies chooses a codename to go by. Some people choose to use their real name, but not many. Most people, like you, are trying to get away from their old life."

"Are most of them demigods?" I asked, trying to piece together what these armies were like. I wanted to prepare myself.

"Yes, they are. Many of them were disowned by the gods in some way, each for their own reason. Because of that, things like ambrosia and nectar don't heal them. Others were left in my world by their godly parent when they were babies- having never seen the real world. There are also some who felt like they didn't belong in the human world."

"I think I'm starting to understand some of this," I said.

Chaos smiled, "It's a lot to take in, I know. You'll learn as we go. Now that we're on the topic though, what do you want to tell people about your past?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, they're going to assume you're like them. That you're in my world for one of those reasons. If you prefer you can tell them the truth, but considering how much you've wanted to keep hidden…"

"I'll tell them I was dumped here by my godly parent. I could tell them I came from another Training Ground."

Chaos nodded, "Yes, that would work. They won't talk about it if you don't want to, so you don't need to come up with a detailed cover story if you don't want to. Now, what do you want your code name to be?"

"I get to choose it?"

"Of course."

"Anything I want?"

"Just remember it's your new name. It's what everyone will call you."

I thought about it for a couple seconds. What everyone will call me. A new name. A new identity.

"Alpha," I finally decided. "My new name will be Alpha."


	7. Chapter 5

Our next stop was a common room sort of place. It seemed like a teenager's basement, complete with a huge flat-screen TV, an X-box, X-box Kinect, a Wii, a bunch of couches, chairs, beanbag chairs, a fuse ball table, and pretty much anything else you could ever ask for. I'd only seen most of those things at camp, since they weren't around when I was a kid, but it looked awesome.

There were a few people already sitting in there and joking around. A boy was lying on the couch, with a girl sitting on his feet. Another girl was sitting on a bean bag chair in between the couch and a small table in front of it. And finally there was another guy lounging on the other couch that was across the room, facing the door.

They all looked up and smiled when Chaos cleared his throat.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet Alpha," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "She'll be second-in-command of this army, once it actually becomes an army."

"You mean once we all stop being super lazy, and actually do something?" the girl on the bean bag asked.

Chaos nodded, "Pretty much."

"Okay, cool," she said, turning her attention back to her iPod Touch. Chaos smiled, and patted my back.

"I think you'll get along just fine here, Alpha," he said, before walking out and closing the door behind him.

"Um, hi…" I said awkwardly.

"Hi!" the girl on the couch said enthusiastically. "I'm Dawn!"

I smiled back, "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Lune," the girl on the bean bag chair said, looking up. She looked like one of the girls in an American Girl Magazine I'd seen at camp. She had wavy blonde hair, soft blue eyes, and was wearing a white beanie on her head.

"I'm Hunter," the guy Dawn was sitting on said with a wave.

"And I'm Danny!" the guy on the other couch shouted.

"Nice to meet you all," I said, awkwardly standing in front of the door. I clasped my hands together in front of me and rocked back and forth on my feet. I wondered what I looked like to them. I'd pulled my hair into a ponytail, put blue colour contacts in my eyes, and put a white mask on before coming on. I didn't look anything like I did when I'd first come back to life, and I wasn't sure if it turned okay.

"Well are you just gonna stand there?" Danny asked. "Come in!" I slowly walked forward, not knowing where to sit. I eventually opted on sitting on the floor, by Danny's couch, beside the table.

"So, second-in-command, huh?" Hunter asked, twisting his head, trying to see me.

"Yeah," I said, tracing circles on the floor with my finger. "Not exactly my first choice, but whatever."

They all stared at me, almost looking disgusted.

"What?" I asked.

"Not you first choice?" Lune asked. "What, you would rather be the leader? You can't be happy with what Chaos has already granted you?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant! I just meant, I'm not really cut out to be a leader."

"Most people would die for the chance to be in charge," Hunter said.

I shrugged, "Not me."

"Yet you chose the name Alpha," Danny said, a hint of a smile on his face. I shrugged again.

"I just like it. It… I don't know. It makes me feel strong," I said, not knowing how to explain my choice. Danny was watching me with an unreadable expression. I looked down, embarrassed, "It's stupid, I know."

"No, it's not," Danny said. "I get what you mean."

"How'd you guys choose your names?" I asked, trying to get the attention off me.

"Danny and I just used our real names," Hunter said.

"Why?"

"Guess we just didn't feel like changing them," Danny replied.

"How about you?" I asked, looking over at Lune. She smiled a bit.

"Lune in french means the Moon. The night sky has always been something I loved, and it was just the first thing that came to mind."

"So really, if anyone has a stupid name, it's Lune," Danny said. Lune threw a pillow at his face.

"Dawn chose her name for the same reason," Lune pointed out.

"Not completely though," Dawn pointed out. She started to get a bit of a dreamy look on her face. "I chose mine because my favourite time of the day was dawn. When the sun was rising, and animals would come out before any humans were there…"

No one said anything for a few seconds, each lost in our own thoughts. Then Danny suddenly clapped his hands together, scaring me so much, that I jumped about a foot in the air.

"Danny!" I yelled, slapping him.

"Ow!" he said, grabbing his leg, where I'd hit him. "What was that for?"

"For scaring me," I snapped.

"I like her!" Dawn declared.

"I don't," Danny muttered.

"Aw, you don't mean that," I said.

"Yes I do," he answered, rubbing his leg.

"Are you seriously _pouting,_ Danny?" Dawn asked.

"No," Danny said, still pouting. Dawn laughed.

"Yep, I definitely like you," she told me. I smiled back, her enthusiasm contagious.

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Hunter asked.

"What are our options?" Dawn asked.

"I dunno, we could play X-Box Kinect or Wii." I stared at him. I assumed those were things that were around in the mortal world now, but I'd never heard of them.

"Can we play Mario Karts?" Lune asked. "We haven't played in ages!"

"No, I'm horrible at Mario Karts!" Danny complained.

"You're horrible at everything," Lune replied.

"I'm good at X-box games!" Danny defended.

Lune rolled her eyes, "Right."

"What do you want to play, Alpha?" Dawn asked me.

"Um…" Considering I'd never heard of anything they were talking about, I didn't know what to say.

"Come on, what's your favourite?" Lune asked.  
"Well, I've never… um," I stuttered.

"You've never what?" Hunter asked.

"I've never heard of any of those things…"

"You've never heard of them?" Danny asked slowly, like he didn't understand. I just shook my head.

"How? They were around when we were kids," Dawn said. "You must have played them while you were on Earth."

"I was never on Earth," I whispered. I guess the lying would start now.

"What do you mean?"

"I was left with Chaos when I was born," I said. "My mom died, and my father obviously didn't want me."

"Who's your father?" Lune asked.

"Hades," I replied.

"But that still doesn't explain why you've never heard of any of the video games we've been talking about," Dawn pointed out.

"I guess Chaos doesn't have them on all his Training Grounds," I said which a shrug.

"Huh," was all Lune said. Danny and Hunter just stared at me, as if thy were trying to figure me out. Dawn's reaction was the most surprising. She just started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You," she replied, between giggles. All of a sudden, she stopped laughing, and looked thoughtful."Hey, if you haven't heard of video games, I bet you haven't heard of much other stuff."

I slowly shook my head.

"Well, I guess we'll have to teach you everything then," she said with a big smile on her face. Her enthusiasm was so contagious that I just had to smile back.

That's how I made my new best friend.


	8. Chapter 6

"Alright," Dawn declared, making sure all the attention was on her. "First up is Mario Karts."

"I hate Mario Karts," Danny muttered, making a disgusted face.

"Oh, stop being so _whiny,"_ Dawn replied. "We'll play X-Box later."

"And it's not like you'll be the worst player," Lune pointed out. "Alpha's never even played before."

Danny remained silent, but looked a bit happier.

"Okay, who wants which remotes?" Hunter asked, once he located all of them. He laid them all out on the table in front of Lune.

"I call pink!" Dawn said, jumping up and grabbing it.

"I'll take light blue," Lune said, grabbing it from the table.

"Alpha, what colour do you want?" Hunter asked me, before he and Danny chose theirs. I looked at the table, where three remotes were left: one black, one white, and one red.

"I don't care," I said, with a shrug.

"Give her white," Danny told Hunter. "I'll take red, and you can black." Hunter nodded, and handed me the white remote. Danny grabbed the red one, and Hunter took the black one before sitting back down on the couch.

Hunter went through each screen quickly, as I just stared at the TV. I had no idea what any of the stuff on the screen was, but I decided it was easier not to ask.

"Press A," Hunter told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"So that the Wii registers your remote," he replied. That just confused me even more, so I figured I'd just do what he told me.

"Which racetrack are we doing?" Lune asked.

"Yoshi Falls!" Dawn said, bouncing up and down. "Please?"

Hunter smiled, "Sure. Everyone else okay with that?" Danny and Lune nodded, while I just stared at him blankly. Hunter selected the level, not even bothering to explain what was going on to me. I figured this was best, since I probably wouldn't understand anyway.

Numbers started counting down on the screen, and Dawn explained that you were supposed to start driving when it said 'GO!'. I probably could have figure that out on my own, but at least she was trying to make sure I understood. It was all fine until it finished counting down, all the other cars started moving, and I realized I didn't know how to make my car start.

"Um guys?" I asked, timidly.

"Yeah?" Hunter, who was in first, asked, sparing me a glance.

"How do you make the car drive…?"

"Oh, you um…" Hunter tried to explain, looking back and forth between me and the TV. "You hold down-"  
"DIE HUNTER, DIE!" Lune yelled, pushing Hunter's car off the edge, into the water.

"NO!" Hunter screamed, forgetting about me. "Lune!"

Lune was was hunched forward in her seat, pure determination in her eyes.

"Um, Hunter?" I asked.

"Oh right," he said, turning back to me, while his car was being lifted out of the water, and dumped back on the track. "You hold down 2 to go forwards, and 1 to go backwards. Oh, and tilt the controller to steer."

"Okay, thanks," I said, testing it out. My car sped off so quickly that I didn't get the chance to steer it on the right course before it fell off the edge, just like Hunter's had moments before. Some cloud thing picked the car up and dropped it back on the race track.

I continued driving, and accidentally ran through a transparent-multi-coloured box thing. I covered my hands with my face, still holding down 2 on the controller, expecting the car to go flying again. Instead it just drove on, as if the box wasn't there to begin with. I stared at the TV not understanding this game in the slightest. While I was thinking about that, my car was veering more and more off course, nearly falling off the edge again. I turned the remote sharply, and the car turned back onto the course with seconds to spare.

"I can't decide who's worse," Dawn said, without taking her eyes away from the TV. "Alpha or Danny."

I snorted, while Danny yelled "hey!", offended.

I concentrated on driving again, this time my sole purpose being to get in front of Danny. I still didn't understand the game in the slightest, but I figured if I avoided the edges, I should be fine. It was pretty hard at times (especially went there was suddenly a blast of lightning on the screen, and my car shrank), but I finally caught up to Danny.

"Ha!" I said once I was driving beside him. I said it a bit too early though, because it made Danny notice that my car was right there, and he became determined to beat me.

"No, there is no way I'm coming in last!" he said, staring at the screen in concentration. He tried to shove my car over, but I swerved out of the way just in time. It weren't on and on like this for ages, each of us trying to get the other off the track, and get ahead. We even started playfully hitting each other since I was leaning against the couch he was lying on.

I was so concentrated on beating Danny, that I jumped about a foot in the air when Lune yelled "AHA!"

I looked at her screen and saw that she'd won. Hunter won soon after, with Dawn close behind.

"The game will end in 10 seconds," Hunter told us.

"Great," I muttered. I leaned forward, staring at the TV in huge concentration, knowing I could do it.

"3 seconds," Dawn said. I drove forward, swerving around Danny's car, and getting ahead of him by a centimetre. But that was enough.

"YES!" I yelled, throwing my arms up when the race ended, with me in 11th place.

"Are you kidding me?" Danny exclaimed, throwing his remote down on the couch.

"Well, I guess that answers Dawn's question," Hunter said flatly, staring at the TV. "Danny's worse."

"There is no way we are playing that again," Danny said.

"But I want to play again!" Lune complained.

"If we play again, I'm driving the whole thing backwards," Danny replied. Lune just glared at him.

"Why don't we play Super Mario Bros. instead?" Dawn suggested.

"Fine," Lune agreed, although she still looked a bit annoyed.

Hunter got up and switched the disks (I assumed that he was the designated Wii person), and he got it all set up. Suddenly we were playing.

Turns out, I'm horrible at Super Mario Bros., as well as Mario Karts. I lost a life pretty much right away, by walking it one of those creepy brown things.

"Oh yeah, you want to avoid those…" Hunter told me, afterward. "Jump on it if you see one- that's how you kill it."

"Oh," was all I said as a reply. Why couldn't he have told me before? Although it wouldn't have made much of a difference- I didn't actually know how to make my character _jump._

I lost another life because I didn't know how to jump across the gap between two pieces of ground, so I fell through the black abyss between them.

I lost a third life by hitting a monster in the water. Once again, Hunter told me _after_ that I should avoid them.

I don't even know how I lost my fourth life- I just dropped dead out of nowhere. I probably hit something without realizing it, but I didn't want to admit.

Seeing as I only ad five lives to begin with, I only had one life left and still no idea how to play. I kind of just made my character follow the others, but it usually ended with me getting in the way of the others. There were a couple times that I made other characters die, cause I didn't know what to do.

"Alpha, I'm just going to carry your character," Danny said finally, getting fed up with me always getting in the way, and dying.

"Okay," I said, putting my remote down without a fight. I only had 1 life left, and I didn't feel like wasting it, so I was more than happy to let Danny carry my character.

They went through all the levels, and I just sat there, eating junk food and watching. It took me a while to realize that my mask must be magical,because I was managing to eat with it on.

Finally, they got to a part where we were standing on a platform, over some water. There was some monster in the water, and Dawn wanted everyone to help fight the monster, and collect the monster.

"Except you, Alpha," she said. "Stay there. We don't want you to lose your last life."

I was more than happy to comply. I didn't understand this game in the slightest, and I didn't want to ruin it for the rest of them. Danny put my character back down on the platform, before making his character jump in the water.

Nothing really happened for about a minute, they just battled the monster. Then Danny said he thought they should try a different method, and it went downhill from there.

"No, we've almost killed him!" Lune argued. "If we continue like this we'll get through it.

"But it's taking forever!" Danny complained.

"If we all work together, it'll be done soon," Dawn replied.

"It'll be quicker to just do my method!"

They all started arguing a bit, not that it was a real argument. They were all just really joking around.

Finally, Danny got bored.

He made his character jump back up on the plaform, and pick my character up again.

"I have a hostage," he declared, running his character back and forth along the platform, with my character on his shoulders. "I am not afraid to sacrifice the hostage."

I stared at the TV in disbelief. Danny was literally threatening to kill my character just to get what he wanted.

"Danny, put my character down!" I protested, laughing.

"No!" he replied. "Not until I get what I want!"  
"Let's just finish killing the monster our way, then we can continue on," Hunter suggested. "We'll use your method next time."

"No, I want to use it this time," Danny said, laughing a bit himself.

"Danny, stop being so annoying!" Dawn complained. Danny didn't answer, he just inched toward the edge of the platform with my character.

"NO!" Lune yelled. "Fine, we'll use your method! We don't want any deaths here."

Danny nodded, and said, "Good," before putting my character back down.

The rest of the night passed pretty uneventfully, and before I knew it, it was 2 a.m. We decided that it was probably a good time to go to bed, so we turned off the Wii and headed back to wear the rooms were.

I stopped when we reached the spot where it branched off into many different hallways, not knowing which one to take.

"What's the matter?" Dawn asked, stopping beside me.

"I don't know which hallway to take," I answered.

"Oh," she said, biting her lip. "Um… Come down my hallway, you're room's probably there. And if it isn't, you can stay with me for the night, and find it tomorrow."

I nodded, and followed her to the right hallway.

"That was a fun night," I told her as we walked to our rooms.

"It was," she agreed. "It was hilarious when Danny took your character hostage."

"I know," I replied, laughing. "'I have a hostage! I am not afraid to sacrifice the hostage!'"

We reached Dawn's room, and I waved goodbye to her, walking to my door, which I saw beside hers. It said "Alpha" in wooden block letters, painted green.

"Home, sweet home," I murmured, and walked in, closing the door behind me.

I got changed, and climbed into bed, turning the light off. As I laid my head on my pillow to go to sleep, I randomly wondered if this was a normal Friday night for that lot. Probably.


	9. Chapter 7

I woke up to someone hitting the door. I groaned and dragged myself out of my warm comfy bed. Dawn's way too perky face greeted me once I opened the door.

"Is there any particular reason you decided to punch my door continuously?" I asked.

Dawn rolled her eyes, and walked past me into the room.

"It's called knocking," she said, sitting down on the end of my bed. "It's this thing people do to be polite."

"Alright, is there any reason you decided to knock on my door at this ungodly hour?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

"Ungodly?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, it's this expression people use when-"

"I know what it is," Dawn interrupted. "It's just that most people don't mention the gods here. Chaos is who we recognize as our leader."

"What would you rather me say? Unchaosly? No, that wouldn't make sense, because you waking me up at this time causes chaos. Oh I know! Unprimordialy!"

Dawn snorted, "Unprimordialy?"

"Yep," I said with a nod of my head. "From now on, everyone in this army will say unprimordialy instead of ungodly."

"No one's going to do that," Dawn said, shaking her head.

"Yes they will! I'll make them. And what time is it anyway?"

"9 o'clock," she replied.

"That is way too early for a Saturday," I muttered, yawning. "Anyway, we're getting off topic. Why did you decide to wake me up?"

"Chaos wants to see you after breakfast. And I figured I might as well drag you to breakfast after delivering the message. So get dressed!" she said, pushing me towards my closet. I shot her a dirty look, before turning back around to find an outfit for the day.

"How much do you know about using a sword?" Chaos asked me. Breakfast was over, and now Chaos was teaching me how to sword fight.

"Absolutely nothing," I said bluntly.

"Perfect," he sighed. "I get to teach you everything."

"At least I'm a fast learner," I said, trying to be optimistic.

"Yes, that's always helpful," Chaos said, giving me a small smile. "Alright so first, the parts of a sword…"

We worked all day (with a break for lunch of course), but I could barely do anything. I learned some defensive moves but that was really it.

"I'm horrible at this," I muttered when we stopped at 5:00.

"You just need some practice," Chaos insisted. I stared at him like he was crazy.

"Practice?" I asked. "I've been practicing for hours, and I can't do a thing!"

"You'll learn!" he replied.

"I'll never learn!" I exclaimed, turning away, and getting some water. "I can't even figure out how to get that stupid mirror to work."

There was a long silence.

"What mirror?"

"You don't know about it?" I asked, surprised. Until then, I'd thought that it was Chaos who put the mirror in my room.

He slowly shook his head, "Don't know anything about a mirror."

"Huh," was all I said in reply.

"What's so special about this mirror?" Chaos asked.

"It's…" I thought about what I could say. What was it really? A mirror that I'd put magic into 70 years ago? A mirror that shows me what my brother is up to? A mirror that me interfere? "You know what, never mind. Forget it. It's not important anyway."

"Yes it is," Chaos said, as I started to walk away.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, turning back around.

"Everything in our lives are important, Alpha. The good and the bad. They work together, building your life. As minuscule as that one moment might seem compared to the millions, it still helped shape your life into what it is now."

"It's just a stupid mirror," I said.

"A stupid mirror that's been bothering you," Chaos answered. I hate it when he's right.

"It's just…" I bit my lip trying to figure out how to explain it. "It's been showing me things. Not necessarily weird things, but not what a mirror is supposed to show you."

"What kinds of things?" he asked. I leaned against the small table behind me where my water bottle was resting, as I thought about the easiest way of explaining what it was showing.

"It's been showing me my brother, Nico. Where he is, what he's doing… And this is all making me sound extremely stalker-ish, isn't it? Whatever, it's what's been happening. But I don't understand how it works. My dad said that I put magic in it when I was kid, because it used to hang in my room, but how's that possible? I don't have powers! Most demigods do, but I never had any. Nico can shadow travel and raise skeletons and stuff, but I've never done anything like that…" I trailed off, realizing I was rambling and starting to cry.

"Alpha, I need you to calm down, okay?" Chaos asked calmly. I just shook my head, crying harder. "Alpha, what's wrong?"

"Why don't I have normal powers?"

"It must have something to do with your father…" Chaos said thoughtfully.

"But Nico doesn't having this powers! Why's he normal?"

"I don't know," Chaos said shaking his head.

"How it possible?" I sobbed, needing an answer. "Am I a freak or something?"

"Having magic doesn't make you a freak," Chaos told me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "It makes you special."

"What makes you think that?"

"Look around you, Alpha. This whole place is made of magic. It isn't a bad thing- you have powers no one else has. Put them to good use."

I nodded, thinking it over. My powers could help people. I could save people…

"Can I ask you something?" I asked, once I'd calmed myself down down.

"Of course," he replied.

"Like I said before, that mirror it showed me him, Chaos. But how's that possible? How can a mirror show me what's happening on Earth?"

Chaos looked thoughtful. After a few minutes in silence, I decided that there was no point in bothering him with it.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter anyway," I said.

"It does matter," he said. "You're upset about it. And I have a theory about why you can see things in the mirror. I think… I think it might be the magic you put into it when you were a child. You're manipulating what it's showing you."

"You mean, what I'm seeing isn't real?"

"No, it is very much real," Chaos assured me. "But I don't think it is a simple coincidence that you've been seeing Nico. I think it's that you have the overwhelming emotion of missing him, and your using your magic without knowing it. You're using your magic to show you the thing you want to see the most."


	10. Chapter 8

"I can't do it!" I complained, as I once again shattered a glass at the front of the room. Chaos was trying to teach me how to control my powers, but it wasn't working.

"Just focus," Chaos told me. "Focus on what you want to happen, and don't let anything distract you. It takes time to learn this stuff Alpha. You need to have patience."

"I can't control it, Chaos! Sure, I put a bit of magic into a mirror when I was a child, but that was a complete accident. I didn't even know magic existed back then."

"Maybe we should try a different approach," he decided. "You said the mirror is in your room?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you go get it? You're not having luck with moving physical objects, but maybe you could try changing the image you see in the mirror. You've done it unconsciously before, so you know it's possible."

I shrugged, "I guess it's worth a try."

I ran out of the room, going up windy staircases and hallways that looked exactly the same until I finally reached my hallway. I'd lived there for a couple weeks, and was starting to get a feel for the place, but I still got lost quite a bit.

"Hey Alpha!" Dawn said, running to catch up with me, as I entered the hallway our rooms were in. I slowed my pace, so we could both catch our breath.

"What's the big rush?" Dawn asked, as we walked side-by-side to our rooms.

"Working with Chaos, I'm just grabbing something from my room. I don't want to keep him waiting."

"What are you working on?"

"Magic," I replied simply. After telling Chaos about the mirror the week before, I'd decided to tell Dawn about it.

_"That's awesome, Alpha!" she'd said._

I still didn't understand how anyone thought my powers were great, but I did know for sure that if they wanted them, I would happily give them away.

"How's it going?" she asked.

I shrugged, "Not great. I can't really do anything except shatter glass cups."

She cracked a smile, "It's more than I can do."

"That's not true," I argued.

"How?"

"You can shatter glass cups with your hands." She laughed, and , and stopped at her door.

"Seriously though, Alpha," she said. "Appreciate what you have. There are people out there who would die to have your powers."

I nodded. What she didn't understand was that I didn't hate my powers; I feared what people would think of me when they found I had them.

I sighed, and opened the door to my room, looking over to the west wall where I'd hung the mirror. I'd done my best to make my bedroom look like the one I had in the Underworld. Of course there were minor differences, like how my bed wasn't on a slightly raised platform, but all in all, they were pretty similar.

I grabbed the mirror of the wall, and stared at it for a couple seconds as I held it in my hands. The surface looked like it was rippling a bit, and I wondered if that was my magic. I stared at it mesmerized for a couple moments, but then finally tore my gaze away, remembering why I was up here in the first place.

As I left my room, I let my eyes drift back down toward the reflection. I watched how it first showed me my own face, but after a few moments, it showed me my brother instead. I couldn't quite tell what he was doing, and after a few seconds, I decided it didn't matter anyway.

When I looked at it again, once I was back in my training room with Chaos, Nico wasn't showing up in the mirror anymore. Maybe it was a good sign. I didn't want to see Nico, so the mirror wasn't showing me him. I was starting to control it.

I was practicing using the mirror a couple weeks later in my bedroom when Dawn decided to continuously punch my door (or "knock" as she put it). I sighed and shook my head, a smile appearing on my face as I walked over to let her in.

"Here listen to this," Dawn said, sticking an earbud in my ear, the second I opened the door.

"What is it?" I asked, closing the door after she walked in.

"Just listen," she replied.

_People say we shouldn't be together,_

_We're too young to know about forever_

_But I say, they don't know what they're talk talk talking about_

_This love is only getting stronger_

_And I don't want to wait any longer_

_I just wanna tell the world that you're mine girl._

Dawn paused the song.

"So what do you think?" she asked excitedly.

"It's good," I said. Her face fell.

"Just good?" she asked.

"Well I haven't really listened to much..."

"So you want to listen to more?" she asked, brightening up again.

"Sure," I said, with a laugh.

As time went on, I started to like One Direction more and more. Chaos gave me an iPod when I asked for one, and I started to listen to their music on constant repeat, especially when I was practicing fighting or using my magic. It would either calm me down, or get me pumped up, depending on the song and the situation.

My magic improved as time went on as well. I learned to control it a bit more, and I learned how to see other people in the mirror, not just Nico.  
I watched as the other demigods and campers grew up. I saw Thalia become the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, and I watched the Prophecy unravel. I witnessed Percy and Annabeth's first kiss, and Percy's time spent on Ogygia. I was there as both Beckendorf and Silena- two people I had never met- died in horrible ways. I cried when I watched Luke stab himself when Percy handed him the knife, and Annabeth tell the boy she liked to think of as a brother that he was a hero. I felt proud of my friend when he turned down becoming a god, because he didn't want to leave his friends, and instead asked for something that would benefit others instead of himself. I listened to Rachel spout the Prophecy of Seven, and wished that I could comfort Annabeth when Percy disappeared. I stared in shock when Jason Grace was claimed as a son of Zeus, and I sighed when I heard Nico talk about how he brought Hazel back to life- the thing that touched me the most in the that story was that he was in the Underworld to come see me. I watched Leo make the _Argo II, _and Percy and Annabeth's reunion.  
Unfortunately I barely watched over them for some time- thousands of Chaos years- after that, since I hardly ever found the time to catch up on what the demigods were doing. There were more and more people coming to our training ground, especially after the Titan War. Life was getting busy and checking up on the human world was not a high priority. That's why it was such a shock when I found out about Annabeth.

_"We're safe now," Percy whispered to his girlfriend in what seemed to be an elevator. They were both a mess and covered in blood. "We made it out."_

I didn't even try to understand what was going on. All I knew was that they were both hurt, and if they didn't get help soon, they would likely die.

_Annabeth nodded in response to Percy, as she slumped against the wall. They both seemed to be falling unconscious when the elevator floor flew open under Annabeth._

I stumbled back from the mirror, letting a small scream, as I watched Annabeth fall through the floor, a look of pure terror on her face. I didn't know her very well, but I did know of her, and I knew she didn't deserve the fate she received. I just hoped the others would have more luck.

_Percy's eyes flew open, and he put his hand into his pocket, probably reaching for his sword, but by then it was too late. Annabeth was gone._

And then I got to watch, wanting to look away but unable to, as Percy screamed and banged against the walls, trying to get back to his soulmate. It was horrifying, but also magnificent. Percy would probably die if he went after her, but he was willing to anyway. He was willing to do anything for her. I idly wished that someone would love me the way he loved her. But as I focused back on the image in front of me, I knew that would never happen. I lived in Chaos' world, training every day to become part of an army that didn't even have a leader yet. I lied to everyone I knew, telling them I grew up in Chaos' world, that I've never been to Earth, that I didn't know my real name. The lies kept building up, and I couldn't stop them. Anyone who fell for Alpha would not be falling for me. And they would hate me when they found out the truth.

I shook those thoughts out of my head, and turned back to the mirror. I watched as the doors to the elevator opened and Percy stumbled out, falling at the feet of the demigods I had only seen in my mirror, never in real life. He didn't get up again, and I turned away, not wanting to see what happened next. I had seen enough for today.

I walked over to my bed in a trance, and sat down. I just sat there, on the edge of my bed, staring at the opposite wall. I didn't know if Percy was dead or alive, and I probably wouldn't find out for a while. There was only one thing I knew for sure.

"She's dead," I whispered, even though no one was listening. "Annabeth's dead."


End file.
